There are definite signs and signals that every interviewer will spot to enable them to understand how much the interviewee prepared for the big day. These signs are easy to pick out for interviewers regardless of their level of experience. Here are a few of the things I noticed when interviewing people as a recruitment consultant and as a hiring manager. And if you’re guilty of any of these giveaway signs, you can contact me to talk more about your interview strategy

Occasional Ums and Ahhs

Your answers are not fluent and structured, and in fact, you begin to “um” and “ah” as you deliver your response. This is a big sign that you didn’t prepare and that you are really thinking on your feet. And your body language will be be a big give away because you’ll often have a very pensive look on your face, and your eyes may be inclined to the top left looking to the ceiling which is a sign that you’re trying to trawl your memory for the answer.

You’ll be low on confidence and it’ll show

Your body language is withdrawn and closed, and you don’t appear confident. You probably don’t project your voice, because it’s clear that you’re not confident in what you’re saying. I mentioned in a previous article that confidence is key to your success at interview, so beware of that. Showing a lack of confidence is a big giveaway when it comes to interviewers assessing how well you have prepared.

Long winded and unstructured answers

The best interviewees give structured, clear, and concise answers to questions, and this is a big indicator that they have prepared their answers in advance. If your answer is convoluted and goes off in different directions, not to mention it takes a long time for you to deliver your response, then it’s a clear indicator that you have not prepared properly.

You talk a lot but don’t demonstrate interest..

It’s highly likely that you’re going to get asked questions about the business and the services or products that are on offer. Even if you don’t get asked a direct question, you’ll be expected to deliver information that shows that you’re interested in the business and understand its products and services. If your answers and responses make little or no reference to the business and services, then the interviewer would assume that you don’t know enough information or that you are not engaged with what the business is doing. Again, they’ll draw the conclusion that you have not prepared sufficiently.

Much of your success at interview boils down to your ability to convince an interviewer how interested you are in the role and the business. You can demonstrate interest through your actions and your words, asking the right questions or providing the right information – so that it appeals to the interviewers – can make or break your chances of success. You can contact me to talk more about your interview strategy

There were a few things that I would always try to do to convince an interviewer that I was interested in the role and the organisation. But beware, a skilled interviewer can usually detect if you’re trying to pull the wall over their eyes. Before you go to an interview, you actually need to understand as much about the business as you possibly can, so that you can determine whether you are actually interested. That way, your natural enthusiasm and affinity to the business will come across and your words and actions will be genuine and appealing to the interviewers. Here’s a few of the things that I would normally do.

Ask the right questions..

I would always ask questions that relate to the present and the future. In doing so, I would be able to gain further insight on how well the business is doing and its ambitions for the future. I would also get an understanding of the situation they’re in at the present to enable me to determine whether or not that was a situation I wanted to be in myself. From an interviewer’s perspective, questions about the present and the future lead them to believe that you have a genuine interest in what they’re currently doing and their plans for the future. You’ll then be able to probe further based on responses that you get to the questions and that will further demonstrate your interest in the business. [Read more…]

So, you’re thinking about changing jobs and you’ve got an interview coming up, but what kind of questions can you ask to make sure it’s the right career opportunity for you? Now remember that the interview can you help you to understand whether the business is going to be a good fit for you or not. With that in mind, don’t fall into the trap of asking questions that focus on the role. If you’re having a hard time , you can contact me to talk more about your interview strategy

Instead you should focus your preparation on creating questions within 4 separate categories that I’m about to share with you. I recommend that you have 2 questions for each category so that you have around about 6-8 questions prepared in advance. Now having these questions will not only help you with your due diligence and to understand the business a lot more. They will also show the interviewer that you’ve really done your preparation and you have a real interest in the role and the business.

Question Category #1

The first category of questions are what I call, business related questions. They could be around new products and services that the business has and the business’s potential growth strategy for the future. For example, where do you see the business in the next 5 years or what new products and services are being launched in the next year or so? [Read more…]

Tell me about yourself is probably the most common question asked at interview and you’re probably dreading having to provide your answer on the big day.But let me tell you that your success in providing a credible answer all comes down to preparation.

How do interviewers expect you to answer the question?

They expect you to provide a summary of why your skills, experience, values are a fit for the business, role and team.You can add the icing on the cake by punctuating the answer with relevant career highlights and achievements as backup. Contact me to talk more about your interview strategy and talk about your own answer to this question.

Preparation is Key!

In fact the first thing you should do is prepare, and there are several things that you should research. For example, you need to understand the values and the culture of the business so that you can determine, first and foremost, if the role and business would be a match for you and a place in which you could be happy. If it turns out that there is no match at all, then you should question whether you should attend the interview and move on to apply for a role that is closely aligned to your values. From a personal point of view, I remember that I was able to gain a real rapport and break the ice by demonstrating in my answer that there was a values and cultural alignment with myself and the businesses that I interviewed with.

Understand The Role

Another point to research before you provide your answer is that you need an understanding of the role and how it fits into the team and business. You will then be able to pick out the skills and expertise that you possess which match those required by the role. Extend your research so that you have a full understanding of the industry in which the business operates. Again, this is important because you’ll be able to showcase and articulate relevant industry experience when you give your answer so that you can demonstrate that there is an affinity between yourself and the role.

Understand the most relevant points of your career and highlights

As I said before, these are things that I did myself and had a lot of success with, but once I had done the preparatory work, I would then move on to the next step, which was understanding the most relevant points of my career and the highlights. I went about reviewing my CV and each of the roles that I had done and what I had achieved for each role. I would pick out one or two relevant career highlights to present during the interview. The last thing you want to do is show up to the interview – CV in hand – and recite each point of your CV from top to bottom. That would take way too long and would demonstrate a lack of preparedness on your part and a lack of understanding of what the interviewer is asking for.

Research interviewers, talk about what’s important to them

It’s also really important to understand and acknowledge the most important concerns of the people interviewing you so that you can relay the fact that you could be a potential solution to their challenges. One great source of their concerns and challenges is the job description, the job advert, or job brief, because they will highlight the key requirements of the team and business and sometimes put those concerns in order of importance. For example, if managing a growing team is a key challenge, then your answer should highlight your ability as an excellent manager. If launching a new website is in the pipeline, your answer should stipulate your ability to do just that. The key here is to pick out the most pressing and significant concerns so that you can begin to put the interviewer’s mind at ease and show them that you know and understand what is most important to them.

Draft and practice prepare a relevant answer

By now you’re probably thinking to yourself, “How can one question require so much effort and preparation and how can I fit all of this into one succinct answer?” The answer is, first of all, you need to make a draft of your answer to the question, “Tell me about yourself.” Believe me, it’s not going to be perfect first time around, and it’s probably not going to be succinct and clear on the first draft, but the key here is make sure you have it in black and white before you go any further and attend the interview. You can always refine it as you go along.

Keep the answer brief mine was less than one minute

In a moment, I’m going to give you a personal formula that I used to answer this particular question, but remember, there is not a one-size-fits-all formula and there will often be circumstances in which you will need to play it by ear and gauge the response of the interviewer when you provide your answer. Don’t think that this formula will cover all eventualities, because it certainly doesn’t. It just gives you a starting point and an appreciation of what may be required. The key point that I want to put across is that the answer should be brief.

When you practice it, as I did with mine, aim to keep it to under one minute. From time to time, when I felt that the interviewer was not satisfied or needed more from my answer, I would be proactive and ask the interviewer, “Are there any other specific areas that you would like me to talk about?” More often than not, I covered the interviewer’s concerns and questions in my original answer. On the other hand, talking too much would only serve to alienate the interviewers, because it would demonstrate that you are not focused and prepared, and that you don’t understand what is important to them.

I’ve witnessed it for myself where interviewees will essentially rehash their CV or recite what’s on their CV in a monologue fashion, seemingly ignoring the purpose of the interview. Just don’t do that, because the interviewers are likely to become bored and begin to draw conclusions towards your lack of suitability for the role.

My Formula For a Successful Answer

I want to share my personal formula for answering the ‘tell me about yourself’ question, it’s the same formula I use to teach my interview coaching students and useful you to remember for your interview.

You don’t necessarily need to structure your answer in the same order as presented below.The point is that you need to include all of the elements given below so that your answer covers all bases.

Say who you are: talk about what you do as a professional and highlight relevant credentials that apply to your job application.

Business Fit: Reasearch you’ve done prior to your interview should indicate that there is a good degree of cultural and values alignment.If that is the case you need to articulate this to the interviewers because it will contribute to their decision making.

Expertise: it’s not enough to simply state your skills and expertise, you will also need to give a couple of highlights or achievements from your career as backup to differentiate yourself from the many other candidates with similar experience.

Interest: show them you’re interested.Don’t underestimate the importance of this one and remember that you can show interest through your actions and by stating – in no uncertain terms – that you are interested.

And when we put it all together your answer might read something like this …

Example Answer

I’m a marketing manager who over the last 8 years has managed teams, large budgets and international consumer marketing projects that have resulted in average year on year profit growth of 10%.

I have an excellent track record of helping small to medium businesses grow their brand and audience through deploying effective through line campaigns that have improved engagement and increased sales of key products. And as an example, online sales of widget x – during my tenure at Impressive Company 2 – totalled £2.5mill which was an all-time record.

Teamwork is something I enjoy and I love a fast and fluid environment; customer satisfaction is an important factor in my decision making.

My current role is going really well and I’ve been able to galvanise the team – but I’m ready for this challenge especially because I already use and endorse Impressive Company 3’s products and services.

Be honest in your appraisal of your employer. However, you should not be too critical or go over the top with praise either. Think about the professional value you contributed and gained during your time there and use it opportunity to describe

the skills you’ve gained.

a related achievement from your time there

You should also talk briefly about a highlight of your time with the employer.

So something along the lines of, ‘I very much enjoy my work with XYZ & Co. I’m on good terms with my boss and other members of my department and am a respected member of the team.I still have some good friends there too. [Read more…]

The interviewer wants to know if you have given this some thought and that you have

a positive outlook,

realistic ambition

and a motivation to progress.

“Are your goals aligned with the goals of the team and organisation?”

To answer this question you will need to have taken some time – before hand – to think about your career in the future.You would also need to understand the career path for the role and the objectives of the business and team by asking the the right questions during the interview that way you will be able to

what are long term goals and ambitions?

How do you define success?

what kind of role do you see yourself in?

what kind of organisation do you want to work for?

Are you interested in working with us?

You’d certainly grab the interviewer’s attention if you say that you’d like to be working within the organisation and have gained the respect of your colleagues.

You might want to add that you would hopefully have learned enough to prepare you for a more senior role/promotion within the organisation.And if the career path of the role is aligned with your own then say so when you give your answer.[Read more…]

Interviewer wants to see how well you’re aligned to the needs ofthe company and role so focus your anecdotal response on talking about your relevant:

Skills and experience

Attributes and qualities

Values

And punctuate with an achievement as evidence that the item you have chosen is in fact a strength.

You should have already listed your top five or ten skills – that relate to the job – prior to the interview so this is a great opportunity to ‘sell‘ the most significant strength/skill to the interviewer.[Read more…]

It’d be easy to assume that this negative-sounding question has been asked to trip you up in order to reveal your deficiencies so that the interviewer to figure out if you’re up to the job.Not so.Instead this question is designed to test your ability for self-analysis; the interviewer will be looking for a positive yet honest response.

But rather than give a ‘warts and all’ answer focus your response on an area that doesn’t have a major impact on your ability to do the job and/or an area that you are well on your way to improving (not an area you’ve already improved, but one that is well on its way).

When giving my answer to this question, I tended to focus on my hard skills [Read more…]

No one’s perfect and listening to constructive comment from our peers is part of the learning process.Your future employer doesn’t want someone who reacts over-sensitively to advice.

Sobear in mind that the interviewer is assessing your ability to listen and learn and is also trying to discover how manageable you will be and whether you can answer to authority.

I’d suggest you say something like: ‘It depends how the criticism is put to me and also how valid it is.But I always listen to constructive criticism and take it as feedback so that I can learn and improve.[Read more…]

Here the interviewer testing the extent of your research so if you’ve not prepared adequately then it will be obvious.Gather your research from the organisation’s website and see if you can find information on the department from corporate brochures and reliable media sources.